Leigh Batnick Plessner: Chief Creative Officer of Catbird

Leigh Batnick Plessner is the chief creative officer of Catbird. Before landing at Catbird, Plessner graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in English literature and anthropology, and she worked at various DC coffee shops and as a cocktail waitress before landing a job in the children's room at renowned DC bookstore Politics and Prose. At the bookstore, she was eventually promoted to sidelines buyer, selecting everything for the store other than books. While in this position, she had the opportunity to go to various stationery shows, which prompted her to start a stationery brand of her own called Jezebel. In 2005, she met the founder of jewelry brand Catbird, Rony Vardi, at a stationery trade show. Soon after, she started working at the brand's storefront in New York. Eventually she transitioned out of running her stationery brand and into working full-time for Catbird. She grew with the company and now holds the role of chief creative officer, where she's responsible for the visual identity of the brand, including Catbird's partnerships with talent like Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers.